John Waynes last movie is a dignified, thoughtful Western, heartbreakingly close to the Dukes actual situation and very cunning in its use of Waynes screen persona to fill in the background of the character he plays here.
Jimmy Stewart and Lauren Bacall guest as links to the legendary cinematic past from which weary old gunfighter J. B. Books (Wayne) staggers into Carson City the week Queen Victoria dies, hoping to stir up a shooting fight with old enemies Richard Boone and Hugh OBrian so he can go out in a hail of bullets and glory rather than succumb to the slow agony of cancer.
Directed with autumnal tones and a sombre pace by Don Siegel, this proved after a succession of flabby 70s movies, that Wayne was still a powerful screen actor.